Random Acts of Kindness

This week I have decided my 3rd graders will do a service type project for Valentine's Day. I saw something like this on Pinterest that was created for a youth group or private school setting. I changed it so that my public school students could complete the activity. If you click on the picture you should be able to download the file.

Achievement Badges

Thanks to Pinterest I found this really cute idea. I can't find my original pin so I can't give credit to who thought of it!
Today I created badges for each teacher on our grade level. When a student reaches a goal, whether it be behaviorally or academically, their teacher can give them the badge for the day. The badge encourages students and staff to enquire about the achievement. We'll start these next week. Fingers crossed it goes well!

College Readiness Week

 

As I mentioned previously, this summer I attended the No Excuses University seminar in Dallas, TX with a co-teacher and our administrative team. Our district brought a team from each elementary.The seminar was AWESOME and I recommend it to anyone who gets a chance to go!  

 

College readiness is the idea that students are prepared to go to college, if they choose to do so.

We have decided on our elementary campus that our students are COLLEGE BOUND!

 NO EXCUSES!

 

Each teacher adopted a 4 year university for their classroom to learn about. Every classroom in the building has a different university.

 

The teachers decorated their classroom doors to show their school spirit!

 

My classroom adopted Texas Christian University! Go Frogs!

 

 

 

Each day of the week we had a theme for our kids to participate:

Monday - We're kicking off College Readiness Week! Wear your boots!

Tuesday - Our future is so bright we have to wear shades!

Wednesday - Education is tied to our future! Wear tie-dye or a tie!

Thursday - Hats off to College!

Friday - School Spirit - Wear your favorite university gear!

 

Hook Em Horns and Gig Em Aggies! Coming together for the future of our students!

My co-teacher and I also created this bulletin board earlier in the year. It shows where each teacher attending college.

 

As a project for the week, every 3rd - 5th grader was expected to create a poster about a university they were interested in learning more about. Our hallways are now decorated with these fabulous posters! It was awesome to see universities represented that weren't in Texas.

 

 

More pictures to come of the awesome things happening on our campus!

Bring a Book to Life Night

Each year our campus does a read aloud night. Typically, teachers choose a book, dress up as a character and plans an activity to accompany the book.

I usually try to represent a redheaded character because I feel like redheads get a bad rep in movies (gotta do my part to set the record straight) lol

This year I was Freckleface Strawberry from Julianna Moore's book. Love it. The book is about embracing who you are. It's super cute.

Where Are You Going to College?

 

As part of our No Excuses campaign, my friend Trina and I created this bulletin board on campus. I requested that all teachers and staff fill out an index card telling us what college they attended, the city/state that the college is located in and the degree that they earned. I also requested a picture, preferably a graduation picture if they had one.

 

This is the outcome...notice the yarn practically covers Texas. lol

 

Some of the teachers have complained (jokingly) that our bulletin board has caused a traffic jam in the hallway because all the kids want to stop and look at it. :)

 

We originally wanted to do pins with the strings attached, but we do not have an actual bulletin board in the main hallway of the building. So we improvised using this display case.

Constitution Day

Here are pictures from the lesson I found on Pinterest for Constitution Day. We read the book "We the Kids" by David Caltrow about the Preamble to the Constitution. Then I partnered the kids up and had assigned them a part of the preamble to portray through a picture.

 

Here is a link to the pdf of the lesson plan I found on Pinterest/Teaching Blog.

 

I took pictures of some of my favorite pictures!

 

 

 

 

 

 

But You Get Summers Off...

 Disclaimer: Yup its going to be one of those posts. If you don't like my rambling, you might as well go to another page now. And it will be a lot of rambling!!

My blog post is not meant to be a rant or complaint against my life as a teacher or the hard work that comes with the territory. It is simply to remind you of the challenges teachers face each day.

Let's go ahead and talk about that little rumor that "teachers get the summer off".  Many teachers do not get the summer "off".  While technically we are not on campus teaching, it is not a true time of being "off" work. It is time for professional development, moving classrooms or campuses, preparing for the next year, teaching summer school or tutoring, and much more. We work year round as hard as we possibly can for the children that enter our class each day. While sometimes you might find a bad apple among us, let me assure you that is the exception to the rule. My co-workers are some amazing people. I grow as an educator every day just because I am in the same building.

I work hard enough each day to get my job done the way I feel it should be done. I put in enough effort to know that when I leave my classroom each day, I've given my students as much as I can in order to provide them with a good education. Even with that said, there will always be the thought in my mind "maybe I could've done more". This will forever drive me to become a better educator.

There are days that I absolutely love my job and there are days that I want to walk out the door in complete frustration. I think that most jobs have days like these. However, I don't think that you can ever appreciate the work of a teacher until you have spent a day in a classroom.

A Typical Day of an Elementary Teacher
Our official duty time is from 7:35 - 3:45 each day. My average day is 7:20 - 4:30. As the year progresses the days grow longer.
30 minute lunch (pending needs of students/lunches/discipline, bathroom break, etc.)
55 minute conference (including but never limited to parent conferences, student conferences, intervention meetings, ARDs, 504s, planning, organizing, preparing materials)

Expectations regardless of when its completed (even if outside the 8 hour day):
Being prepared for an appraisal at any time (4 - 15 minute observations and at least 1 - 45 minute observation. This is where one of our administrators come in an write down EVERYTHING that you do and say within that time period, then review and compare it to state expectations)

Grade papers/assignment/projects
Enter grades in electronic gradebook for parent access
Make plans for lessons while following constantly changing state curriculum
Find ways to bring new technology into classroom
Differentiate for all students within my classroom
Progress Monitor for academic growth
Discipline children while showing empathy and staying focused learning
Reply to emails
Respond to phone calls
150 hours of CPE per 5 years

Other Expectations (that many outside of education field see as "optional"):
Student events such as Open House, Parent Night, etc. which typically extend our days to 10-12 hour days
Extracurricular Clubs and Activities
Tutoring

So if your teacher friends look tired, its because they work hard each and every day with a smile on their face. Not because they can't handle being "back at school".

PS - If you can read this, thank a teacher. :)

 

All my pretty pictures came from Pinterest. :)